Reading: Neville, The Boy Who Lived
by Lily Midnight Periwinkle
Summary: The Fates have decided to give the Marauders Era a choice. A choice to decide which boy will become The Boy Who Lived. They read the Harry Potter Books (which in actuality will not be read here) and the Neville , The Boy Who Lived books by Skye Phoenix Dove. Which future will they choose to keep? I could only select four characters, and at random, but there are more.


**Hi there! This is Lily Midnight Periwinkle. Most of my stories are reading-the-books fics, but not usually reading the actual books because 1) Apparently it's against the rules and 2) I never have the patience to type out the whole book. But I do love writing reading-the-books fics, so I use people's fan fictions or such.**

**Skye Phoenix Dove is letting me use her story 'Neville, The Boy Who Lived' for this fic.**

**In this fic, some people from the Marauders Era reading the books, both her fanfic and J.K. Rowling's books. They read Harry's 1st book then Neville's 1st year then Harry's 2nd year… and so on if I manage to get that far.**

**Yeah… fanfiction isn't my top priority so I won't be updating very frequently. And if I get very lousy response my updates take even more time. Just warning you.**

**And I know I should probably write a disclaimer too but really, we must remember that this is fanfiction and nothing really belongs to us anyway.**

**So… yeah. The first time I'm showing one of my fanfics to the public. Please don't flame, I won't be able to stand it. Enjoy reading.**

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The pretty redhead set down the book in her hand.

It lay faced up on the table. The cover was red, with a still picture of a shiny gold snitch on it.

Across the cover in large gold lettering were the words: Harry Potter

And underneath that in slightly smaller gold lettering were the words: The Philosopher's Stone

This was the book they had just finished reading aloud.

Around the table, sitting silently as what they had heard sank in, was a collection of mostly fifth-year children who would later grow up to be very significant figures in the Golden Years.

They were from what would commonly be known as the Marauders Era.

Lily Rachel Evans sat at the head of the table, being the most natural and respected one of them all, despite being a girl, a Gryffindor, a friend of a Slytherin, a know-it-all, a muggleborn, and a tattletale.

Beside her sat someone who she had so badly despised only… how long had it been? Days? Weeks? Hours? For all they knew, it could've been only minutes that had passed.

James Charlus Potter ran an uneasy hand through his jet-black hair then touched her arm gently, and petite bright green eyes met warm brown ones. Both had been bonded by the mostly-horrifying tale of what their son might go through, as well as the knowledge that they would be together in the end.

Beside James sat a boy with undercut black hair and obsidian eyes. He was James' best friend, Sirius Orion Black.

Sirius held hands with Remus John Lupin. They too were uneasy. Neither of them could understand why James' child had been left alone. Surely one of them would've at least visited. Remus was troubled by this. Greatly troubled.

The young Black heir couldn't help letting his mind wander, through all the Siriusness —sorry, seriousness— of the information. He was holding Remus' hand… and the young werewolf wasn't letting go. He felt a faint blush creep onto his cheeks, and ducked his head to hide it before he looked back up again. Remus stared at him with deep golden eyes that were once crystal blue. Sirius dared to reach up and run a shaking hand through his sandy-brown hair, and Remus didn't pull away. Perhaps in all the sentimentality of the situation he couldn't differentiate it from the hidden meaning inside.

Alice Viviana Prewett and Frank Benjamin Longbottom watched the group, as they held onto each other like their lives depended on it. Although neither of them had been mentioned yet in this story, they knew something was wrong. Why was their son living without them? What had happened? Alice was a Prewett, but surely she wasn't included in the people Voldermort had killed. Wouldn't she be considered a Longbottom by then?

Molly Athena Prewett was staring sadly at her younger sister, and at her shoulder was Arthur Wright Weasley. They were both very worried for everyone, but slightly relieved that their own family appeared to be relatively okay.

On the other side of the table, sat a very different bunch. They were Slytherins.

Severus Tyrannus Snape sat with his head in his hands. His dark brown eyes could barely see beyond the long black frinch falling over his face but he didn't care for once. Oh, how Lily would hate him now. The shock and fury of his precious Lily becoming a Potter had long since worn off. If she hated him… he truly couldn't stand it when she was mad at him. Even if they would forget all that they learned, she would still be gone. And why couldn't his future self see the similarities between young Harry Potter and the boy's mother? He was just as brilliant and inquisitive as Lily.

A boy that looked like a two-years younger carbon copy of Sirius Orion Black was staring into space. Regulas Arcturus Black was less affected by the events in the book, but he was beginning to agree with his elder brother's views. Voldermort was a menace, he was already sure of that, but pureblood didn't quite seem as pure now either. Especially not after observing Hermione Granger, and after knowing Lily Potter for so long. He dreaded the day in the future when he would undoubtedly join the Dark Lord's forces.

At the table, one boy was older than all the others. He was pale, much too pale to be healthy, and had white-blond hair falling over his gray eyes, making him look as if he had lost some colour. Lucius Abracas Malfoy had already graduated from Hogwarts a year ago, which had originally made him feel far more superior than all the others. But now, seeing how his son acted, he wasn't quite sure.

The red book on the table shimmered, and the cover began to change, the book also became slightly thinner.

Days ago, or weeks, or hours, no one was quite sure, they had all been transported to this room and told by a mysterious voice that they must read all of the books that will be provided, for the books held the future. Or, at least, one set of books held the future. You see, Voldermort was meant to make a decision. A decision that could change their children's future entirely. But the decision was based almost entirely on chance, and so the fates were giving them a chance to choose.

At the end of all this, no one would remember anything, but life will play out as written in whichever set of books they had chosen.

There were two ways the future could go. The book they had just read was the beginning of one way it could go. Now they were going to read the beginning of another way it could go.

Lily slowly looked up, and the rest of the room followed her motion. The book on the table was slightly thinner. It was blue and plain, but the words written in shiny silver lettering filled half of the front cover in fancy script unlike the book before which had a lightning font.

Lily picked up the book and read out the title. "Neville Longbottom, The Philosopher's Stone."

She looked up and stared at her best friend with wide eyes. Alice stared right back, pale with shock.

There were still pictures of people on this book's cover. Lily held the book steady so that everyone could see.

The largest one was the upper body of a boy that must've been Neville. He had her round face and button nose. Neville had sparkles in his happy grey eyes (which was odd, because neither Alice nor Frank had grey eyes) and brown hair and freckles like Frank.

"That one must be Neville, right?" Alice whispered. Everyone nodded quietly, realizing that both Alice and Frank would probably die in this one.

Next to him, only slightly smaller, was someone that looked remarkably like James. He had messy black hair and round glasses, but with bright green eyes like Lily.

"That would be Harry." said Sirius, pointing at it.

Remus reached forward. Sirius flushed slightly as his face came barely an inch away from him.

"Those must be Ron and Hermione." he said, pointing to two small figures blending neatly into the background.

There was a girl with bushy brown hair and a tall boy with red hair and the faintest trace of freckles. The boy held a grey spear in a fighting stance while the girl had a scroll and a vial of colourful liquid.

Something caught Lucius' eye and made him flinch. "Is that Draco?"

At the other end of the front cover's design, there was a pale boy with average blond hair and grey eyes. He too held a wand in hand and looked ready to fight.

There was no doubt it was.

"We should read to find out." said Lily, turning it around. And opening it.


End file.
